Absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments, and the like conventionally include a liquid permeable body-facing liner, a liquid-impermeable outer cover, an absorbent core (also referred to as an absorbent body or absorbent structure), and in some instances, graphics visible on the exterior surface of the article. The graphics may provide a decorative feature, and particularly when used in connection with children's training pants, may be used to make the pants appear similar to conventional underwear. Further, the graphics may also be used to encourage training and/or be used to make the training experience more enjoyable and a generally positive experience. For example, the graphics may be used to allow the caregiver to interact with the wearer in the training setting.
Accordingly, the graphics may take various forms, such as in the form of a character, object and/or alphanumeric (e.g., numbers, words, phrases, instructions, etc.), and the like. Moreover, at least some of the graphics may be “active graphics” configured to be capable of appearing or disappearing when the article is exposed to liquid, such as urine. These graphics can alert the wearer and the caregiver to the occurrence of urine in the article (i.e., an “accident”), and can assist in the training process. Reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,424, incorporated by reference herein for all purposes, for additional background information regarding graphics visible on the external surface of the article.
Nonetheless, such graphics, in certain circumstances, may not be completely satisfactory. For example, in some configurations, appearing or disappearing graphics visible on the exterior of the article may require a considerable amount of liquid, or multiple accidents, before the graphics are caused to appear or disappear. Additionally, graphics visible on the exterior of the article do not necessarily motivate the wearer to pull the article up and down for inspection, which can be a key training step.
There is a need, therefore, to provide a suitable training tool that can help notify the wearer of any accidents, even if the accident is relatively small in volume. In addition, there is a need for a training tool that encourages the wearer to practice pulling the article up and down to check the status of a graphic visible from the bodyside of the absorbent article. Further, there is a need for a training tool that has a graphic visible from the bodyside of the absorbent article that does not bleed onto the skin of the wearer.
Furthermore, a need exists to reduce capital costs by more efficiently utilizing space on the manufacturing room floor and more efficiently incorporating the process for printing the graphics into the existing process for manufacturing the absorbent article.